Psychodynamic psychotherapy

In psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the focus is on how people develop over the course of their lives. Thoughts, feelings, desires, motives and behaviors are considered in conjunction with past experiences. This assumes that people are often not fully aware of all their desires and intentions as well as needs, thoughts or feelings that impede their psychological functioning. Patterns formed in the early years of life usually continue, unconsciously, to repeat themselves in adult life. This involves both how you deal with your own feelings, desires and thoughts as well as how you form relationships with others. Psychological symptoms arise when these unconscious patterns do not help you but “sabotage” your life. In psychodynamic psychotherapy, issues such as unconscious drivers of behavior, past and present relational experiences play a central role. Reflection on this makes it possible to better understand psychological problems, process them and develop other ways of dealing with stressful situations. A good therapeutic relationship is a prerequisite for achieving this, and the psychodynamic psychotherapist has learned to connect optimally with the patient’s thinking-and-living (inner) world. To this end, the psychotherapist takes an active exploratory stance. Psychodynamic psychotherapy may be appropriate when someone suffers from severe psychological symptoms, keeps running into the same patterns and wants to change them. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is indicated when these symptoms and problems cause suffering and undermine social and/or occupational functioning. In addition, it is important that the patient himself is curious to better understand himself and has a need to develop himself as a person.